Address printing machine



Feb. 5, 1946.

J. KRELL I ADDRES S PRINTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 21, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet2 n. n I

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Feb. 5, 1946. J. KRELL ADDRESS PRINTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledDec. 21, 1959 c/i/rilzynflor:

Af/omeys Patented Feb. 5, 1946 ADDRESS PRINTING MACHINE Joseph Krell,Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany; vested in the Alien Property CustodianApplication December 21, 1939, Serial No. 310,443 In Germany December22, 1938 3 Claims.

This invention relates to an address printing machine provided with adevice for conveying the pieces or sheets or the like of paper, forinstance forms, through the machine intermittently and automatically.

It has already been suggested to make use of endless conveying bandsrunning continuously in the same direction and serving for conveying thesheets etc. to be imprinted to and over the printing place. For holdingfast the sheets etc. to be imprinted means holding the papers eitheronly one time or several times are provided and are turned into the pathof the said sheets. With these machines the conveying bands which are,in most cases, arranged in pairs cover a part of the sheet to beimprinted so that the sheet can be imprinted only on a part of itssurface. But not only the conveying bands, also the holding means reducethe surface available for the print, in that these means take hold ofthe sheet at the rim thereof whereby printing directly at the rim isrendered impossible. With said older machines there is, thus, the sheetportion available for the printing considerably smaller than the sheetitself, so that it is, first of all, rendered impossible to imprint rimportions of the sheet.

The object of the invention is to provide an arrangement able to renderpossible to imprint the sheet on any desired place, thus, on the rims,too. Another object of the invention consists therein to increase thesafety of service of the machine by combining the means control and theconveying means with one another.

The invention consists especially therein that in front of the printingplace, as well as therebehind, a conveying roll gearing or conveying vroller gearing is provided and both these gearings are drivensynchronously and intermittently.

While the above-mentioned conveying roll gearings or conveying rollergearings serve solely for conveying the piece or sheet of paper,especially forms, to the place below the printing place, there is alsoprovided, according to the nvention, another conveying gearing,preferably designed as a conveying band, the purpose or which is to feedthe sheets etc. to be imprinted to said printing place.

The improved address printing machine designed according to thisinvention is distinguished especially also by the feature that firstlyevery form etc. moved by the conveying gearing over the printing placein portions of any number and any length is provided, if the printingarm forming a member of the machine is repeatedly operated incorrespondence with the selectively engaging and disengaging clutch'forms one of the driving members therefore. In connection therewith aratchet mechanism may be provided for stopping the conveying rollergearing, the pawl of this mechanism being preferably disengageable inthe requisite periods of time with the aid of a control cam. Aparticularly simple arrangement of the members concerned is obtained byprovidingthe ratchet toothing cooperating with the pawl of the ratchetmechanism and determining the length of the conveying paths of theconveying roller gearing on an exchangeable disk. The applicability ofthe entire device is still more increased by the pro- Vision that theconveying gearings arranged in front of, and behind, the printing place,as well as the intermittently operating driving members, are arrangedupon a frame attached reversibly to the table plate of the machine.

The invention is illustrated diagrammatically I and by way of example onthe accompanying drawings .on which Figure 1 is a front-view of themachine, Figure 2 a conveying device operating in an echelon-wisemanner, this device being shown partly in front-view and partly insection; Figure 3 is a side view of the conveying device shown in Fig.2, partly in section; Figure 4 shows the left-hand end of Fig. 3completely in section, and the Figs. 5-11 are illustrations of a partlyrecessed or cogged disk in seven different positions, together withcertain members co-operating therewith, all as fully describedhereinafter. 'Referring in the first place to Fig. 1, I denotes thetable plate of an address printing machine designed according to thisinvention, and 2 denotes a printing arm located above said plate andbeing vertically oscillatable in known manner, and moved in this mannerby means which, being known, do not form parts of the invention.Attached to the lower face of said arm is a printing cushion 3, whichdetermines the place of the machine where a form or the which is toreceive the imprinted forms etc.

In the constructional form shown by way of example the individual sheetsare withdrawn from the pile by means of a suction lifter 9 of anysuitable design, and are then further conveyed by means of an endlessband H1 in the direction indicated by the arrow ll whereby they areconveyed to two groups [2 and I2 of conveying rolls, of which the onegroup is located in front of the printing arm 2 and the other is locatedtherebehind. This part of the machine is so de signed that the sheet tobe imprinted comes to a standstill below the printing arm at least onetime, may be, however, several times, so that it can be imprinted duringthe pause or pauses. Owing to this manner of operation I have termed thedevice in question proportionating conveyor. Behind it, there isprovided an endless conveying band I3 by which the imprinted sheets areconveyed upwardly to the collecting box 8 in the direction indicated bythe arrow I4- The proportionating conveyor is illustrated separately inthe Figs. 2-4 which are drawn to a greatly enlarged scale relatively toFig. 1. In front of, and behind, the printing place are shafts l5 and I5supported inbearings l6, l5

and H, H supported in turn on the table! of the machine. The bearingsl1, H are constituted by horizontal arms (Fig. 2) located opposite toone another and supported in common by a bearing 18 (Figs. 3 and 41. Toeach of the shafts l5, I5 is afiixed a roller, or a pair of rolls i2, 12respectively (Figs. 2 and 3). Below these rolls are housed in cavitiesof the table I pressure rolls l9, l9 which are supported by arms 2|, 2|subjected to the action of compressive springs 20, 20' by which they arepressed against said rolls. To the end of each of the shafts l5, I5 iskeyed a driving pinion 22, or 22 respectively. Both pinions mesh with acogwheel 23 which is rotatably supported upon a shaft 25 supported inturn in the bearing block I8. At a side of the wheel 23is ahub disk 2-6(Fig. 4) which is likewise rotatably supported upon said shaft 25, andlaterally from said disk is provided a ratchet wheel 26 that is coupledwith the said disk by means of an eccentrically arranged pin 21. Themembers 23, 24 and 26 are located between two disks 28 and 29, of whichthe first is firmly connected with the shaft 25 by means of a pin, asshown in Fig. 4, whereas the other disk 29. is axially shiftable uponsaid shaft and coupled therewith merely by means of feather and groove.The disk 29 is subjected to the action of a compressive spring 30located upon'the outer end of the shaft '25 and retained in place bymeans of a knurled nut 3| by which the tension of said spring can beadjusted. Between the disks 26 and 29 is a layer of felt 34 and betweenthe disks 23 and 28 is a layer of felt 35, 'The just describedarrangement and combination of parts constitutes a friction clutch, bythe intermediary of which the rotation of the disk 28 is transmitted tothe cog-Wheel 23,

The spring 39 is so adjusted that the driven. member 23, or 26respectively, can be prevented from further rotations without any damageto the machine when the shaft 25 and the membersconnected with itcontinue to rotate. The disk 28 is provided with a toothing 32 withwhich driving chain or another driving member may mesh.

At the rim of the table I is a projecting sta-' tionary horizontal arm36 (Figs. 2 and 4) on. which is supported a ratchet pawl 38 (Figs. 5-1which is subjected to the action of a tensible spring 37. The pawl 38lies within the range of the ratchet toothing of the disk 26. If thepawl. 38 is, for instance, in the position shown in Fig- 2 and the shaft25 and the parts connected. with it are rotated in the directionindicated by the arrow 39, the disk 26 and the cog' wheel 23 coupledwith it will be prevented from rotationn These parts can partake in thero-- tation only if the pawl 38 has been disengaged from the recess ofthe disk 26 with which it had been in engagement at the time being. Forthis purpose the disk 29 is provided with two earns 49, ll locatedopposite the disk 26, and within the range of these cams is a roll 42arranged laterally at the pawl 38. The cam 40 lies nearer to the axis ofthe shaft 25 than the cam 4| so that both cams describe two circles ofdifferent diameter.

The drive of the disk 28 is accommodated to the drive of the printingarm 2. It is suited to the object in view to provide also for a certaindefinite relation between the drive of the disk 28 and the drive of thegripper or suction lifter 9, so that the proportionating conveyor issupplied with another form in certain definite periods of time.

The band conveyors l0 and I3 run preferabl continuously. As each sheetor form to be imprinted comes temporarily to a standstill prior to beingseized by proportionating conveyor, the band conveyor [0 is providedwith a pressure roller 43 or an equivalent member which is adjustable inthe direction of motion of the sheet or form, so that a sufficientlylarge gap with respect to the proportionating conveyor according to therespective sheet or form can be provided for, in order to prevent thesheet or form from being upset by the proportionating conveyor when itsfront edge pushes upon the shaft of this conveyor-while this shaft is ata standstill at the time being.

The manner of operation of the machine is as follows:

It may be supposted that a form comprising fourportions (for instance adebit-note, a paymerit-certificate, a receipt, and an entry-certificate)is to receive an imprinted address upon each of said portions, thewording being the same on all portions.

The forms thus to be imprinted are assembled as a pile I which is placedupon the supporting plate 6. While the machine is in operation the formsare withdrawn successively fromsaid pile by means of the suction gripper9 and delivered to the band conveyor 10 by which the forms are furtherdelivered to the rolls [2 of the proportionating conveyor. The ratchetfriction gear ing inserted into the drive of the conveying rolls i2 andI2 is so designed and controlled that the rolls come to a standstill inthe'same moment in which the form contacts with them. [Fig. '5

shows the position of the-parts concernedin that" moment. In thisposition the pawl 38 engages the particularly deep recess 44 of theratchet disk 26. The cam 40 provided at the disk 29 which rotatescontinually in the direction indicated by the arrow 45 contacts, whileit continues to rotate, with the roll 42 and lifts the pawl 38 out ofthe recess 44, whereby the locking of the disk 25 and, thus, also of thecog-wheel 23 is broken. Now also this wheel is rotated in the directionof the arrow 45, i. e. of the arrow 39, Fig. 2, whereby also the rolls|2 and I2 are turned in the direction of said arrow 46. The form lyingin front of the conveying r01lsl2 is seized by them and moved below theprinting arm. This forward feed of the forms lasts until the recess 41following the recess 44 is being engaged by the pawl 38. Fig. 6 showsthis position of the ratchet disk 25. By reason of this new locking ofthe disk 25 the cog-wheel 23 and the conveying rolls l2, l2 have beenbrought to a standstill. Also the form'now positioned below the printingarm, 1. e. on the printing place, is there at a standstill. While thistakes place, the first imprint is effected by the printing arm and theprinting block attached to it being moved down upon the form, andimmediately thereafter said arm and said block are again lifted.

While the printing takes place the cam 4| of the disk 26 has approachedthe roll 42, of the pawl 38. When the printing arm with the blockcommences to rise. the cam 4| presses upon the roll 42 and lifts thepawl out of the recess 47, whereby the ratchet disk 26 and with it thecogwheel 23 and the conveying rolls l2, l2 are rotated. The form nowseized by these rolls is conveyed further until the pawl 38 has enteredinto the next recess 48. when these members will be in the positionillustrated in-Fig. '7. In this position the conveyance of the form isagain interrupted. and in this pause another imprint is effected by theprinting arm etc., this second imprint being made on the second portionof the form. While this takes place the cam 40 has again approached theroll 42 of the pawl 38. The depth of the recess 43, combined with theslight distance between the cam 49 and the axle, is, however, so slight,that the cam 4|! moves past the pawl 38 without lifting it out of therecess. The roll 42 of the pawl 38 will be lifted out of the recess inquestion only again by the cam 4|, i. e. after a complete revolution ofthe cam disk 29'. The ratchet disk 26 gets now from the position Fig. 7into the position Fig. 8. In this position the pawl 38 has engaged therecess 49 of the disk 26 and the members coupled in the manner describedwith the disk 25. viz. the cog-wheel 23 and the conveying rolls I2. !2'are at a standstill. and these rolls hold the form fast upon theprinting place. Now the printing arm is depresed for the third time soas to produce an imprint upon the third portion of the form. Whenthereafter the printing arm has again been raised the cam 4| nowcontacting with the larger diameter presses upon the roll 42 and liftsthe pawl out of the recess 49. The ratchet 26 and the members coupledwith itin the manner described are further moved until the pawl 38 hasentered into the recess as shown in Fig. '9. By the rotation of therolls l2, I2 the form has again been advanced by so much that its fourthportion lies below the printing arm, and while the form has now againcome to a standstill, the fourth imprint is effected b meansof thedescending arm which instantly thereafter returns into its former, i. e.upper position. After the cam disk 29 has made another revolution thecam 4| presses again uponthe roll 42 whereby the pawl 38 will be liftedout of the recess 50.

- The drive of the conveying rolls l2, l2 brought about by the justdescribed procedures is utilised for delivering the imprinted forms outof the proportionating conveyor. The conveying time requisite for thedeliverance can be shorter so that after a conveying rotation which isshorter than the preceding conveying rotations, the pawl 38 engages therecess 44' particularly provided for the purpose in view. This recesspertains to the second group of the recesses of the ratchet disk. Thesereceses correspond with those already described in preceding paragraphsof this specification, the only difference being that they are staggeredrelatively to them by 180. The position of the rachet disk corresponds,therefore, with the position shown in Fig. 5. Owing to the pawl 38entering more deeply the roll 42 is now located within the range ofaction of the cam 49 so that the pawl is lifted out of the recess 44already after a further semi-rotation of the cam disk 23.

In the period of time determined b this further semi-rotation a freshform must be con veyed to the conveying rolls [2.

As with the above described constructional form of the address printingmachine there has been assumed that four imprints are to be made on theform, the feed for the printing block is so designed that a fresh feed,or an actuation of the fresh printing block takes place only after theprinting arm has been four times depressed.

The form coming from the proportionating conveyor is taken hold of bythe band conveyor I4 and is delivered into the box 8.

From the preceding description of the improved address printing machineappears that the control of the proportionating conveyor is determinedessentially by the shape and the number of the recesses of the ratchetdisk, wherefrom results that the manner of operation of the machine canbe accommodated also to other conditions, for instance to the productionof another number of imprints upon a form, and I am now going todescribe a constructional form in which only one imprint is made on aform. In this case the ratchet disk is designed in the manner shown inFigs. 10 and 11. From these figures, it appears that a smaller number ofrecesses is provided in this case, viz. only two rests 5| and 52, therecess 5| corresponding with the deeperrest 44 of the first describedconstructional form, whereas the recess '52 has a smaller depth, as havealso the recesses 41, 48, 49 and 5'.) of said first-describedconstructional form. The form is conveyed to the rolls I2 of theproportionating conveyor in the already described manner. In the momentin which the form contacts with the rolls l2 these latter are at astandstill, because the pawl 38 engages the recess 5| of the ratchetdisk 25 (Fig. 10). The cam 40 of the continually rotating disk 29 liftsthe pawl 38 out of the recess 5| when it depresses the roll 42 wherebythe proportionating conveyor'is rotated so that the rolls l2 take holdof the form and move it below the printing arm; The proportionatingconveyor comes to a standstill as'soon as the ratchet pawl 38 engagesthe recess 52 of the ratchet disk, as shown in Fig. 11. While theproportionating conveyor is at rest, the printing arm is depressed andinstantly thereafter raised, so that an imprint is produced on the form.7 After half a revolution of the disk 28 the cam 4| depresses the roll42 whereby the pawl 38 is disengaged from the recess 52, in consequencewhereof the proportionating conveyor 'is rotated so that the rolls:il2,J2. discharge-the imprinted form out of the;machine.. :The pro-,portionating conveyor. remains in operative position until the pawl 38*engages the second recess 5l-of the ratchet disk 26. g a

' It has, as regards the just described further constructionaliorm' ofthe machine, 'been'assumed that the ratchet disk is provided with tworecesses. It is, however, a matter of course that the invention isnotrestricted to this number of recesses of said. disk. The design andarrangement and combinations of the. members concerned may also be sucha one that onecomplete revolution of the ratchet disk is requisiteforevery passage of a form,'whereby,'of course, another subdivision ofthe disk 29 would become necessary.

As the conveying members of the proportionating conveyor lie completelyoutside of the range of the printing arm, and as said members areprovided in front of the printing place, as well as therebehind, animprint can be produced on the form on any desired place thereofwith theaid of a suitably designed control; If the rim zones of the form are toreceive imprints and if, for this purpose, it isnecessary to conduct theform eccentrically with respect to the printing place, the conveyingrolls may be laterally shifted upon the shafts l5, l5, as is indicatedin Fig. 3. If a still longer shiftingof'said rolls is desired thencounter rollers 19 which are suitably longer in their axial directionmay be used.

The machine can be employed if a continuous sheet of paper instead-ofindividual sheets or forms is to be used. In'this case, undercircumstances, the separate band conveyors may be dispensed with, inwhich case attention is to be paid solely to the condition to providefor some slack with respect to the winding ofi and winding on of thecontinuous sheet so as to render possible an intermittent feed. at theprinting place.-

In the construction form'shown by way of example theproportionatingconveyor is designed as a double conveying roll gearing.Also if rollers would be employed instead of rolls, the ad vantage ofrendering it possible to imprint the form on any desired place could berealised. This advantage could, however, be obtained also if a thrustgearing or a gripper gearing permitting an intermittent feed of thesheet or form to be imprinted would be used.

With the constructional form shown and described has been assumed thatthe direction of feed extends in the longitudinal direction of thetable, as does also the direction of feed of the printing blocks. Theproportionating conveyor might, anyhow, be arranged also in such amanner that it conveys the sheets or forms to be imprinted transverselyto the direction of the table, or of the printing blocks respectively.In order to provide for a convenient changeability of the membersconcerned for accommodating them to the various applications theprop'ortionating conveyor is, according to a particular constructionalform of th machine, arranged on a separate base plate or on a framewhich corresponds to a bed at the table plate of the machine. If anotherconveying direction of the proportionating conveyor necessitates also acorresponding re-adjustment of the feed conveyor and of the dischargeconveyor, this will become particularly easy if these additional"conveyors are designed as self-contained additional devices.

I claim:

1. In an intermittent drive mechanism, a rotatable element provided witha plurality of peripheral recesses of varying depths; a spring-pressed,pivoted detent bearing'against the periphery of said element and adaptedto be pressed into said recesses and prevent rotation of said elementwhen in said recesses; a plurality of rotatable cams adapted to travelin a plurality of radially spaced paths, respectively, said paths beingconcentric with said rotatable element, and to rock said detent to moveit from said recesses to the portions of the periphery of the rotatableelement intermediate the recesses; means to constantly rotate said cams;and means to rotate said element when said detent'is in contact withsaid intermediate' portions of its periphery, the periods during whichthe rotatable element is prevented from rotating, by the detent, beingdependent upon the depth of said recesses and the length of the radiusof the path of each cam.

2. In an intermittent drive mechanism, for conveying sheets, thecombination of a driven shaft; a disk loose on said shaft, and having aplurality of recesses in its periphery; a springpressed, pivoted detentbearing against the periphery of said disk; a second disk keyed on saidshaft, for'axial movement relative to and rotation with said shaft;means urging said second disk axially of said shaft to effect a yieldingconnection between said disks,whereby the second disk intermittentlyrotates the first disk, the parts being so designed and related thatwhen the first disk isrotated its periphery travels over'thedetent untilthe detent enters one of said recesses, when the rotation of the firstdisk is therebyinterrupted; means on said second disk adapted to removesaid detent from the recesses, and thereby release the first disk forrotation.

3. In an intermittent drive mechanism, for

conveying sheets, a pinion; a shaft on which said pinion is looselymounted; a disk pinned on said shaftadjacent said pinion; means forrotating said shaft; a ratchet wheel loose on said shaft, fixed to saidpinion, and provided with a periphery having a plurality of recesses; asecond disk splined on'said shaft adjacent said ratchet wheel, the twodisks being on opposite sides of said pinion, respectively; adjustablepressure means on the shaft urging the second disk toward the firstdisk, thereby clutching the ratchet wheel and pinion to the said disks,so that the rotation of the disks by the shaft rotates the ratchet wheeland pinion, intermittently; a spring-pressed pawl cooperating with theperiphery of the ratchet wheel, and adapted to periodically preventrotation of the wheel and pinion when the pawl' is received into saidrecesses, said pawl being provided with a roller; and cams on saidsecond disk co-op'erating with said pawl roller to release the pawl fromthe recessesin the periphery of the ratchet wheel, the parts being sodesigned and related that the periphery of the ratchet wheel moves overthe pawl which periodically drops into the recesses and is removedtherefromby the said cams, thereby allowing the pinion to rotate whenthe pawl is on the periphery and arresting the rotation of the pinionwhen the pawl is in any one of the recesses.

JOSEPH KRELL.

